13A + 13D: You should write the notes in class and then write it up in 45 minutes at home this weekend for submission on Tuesday. (13B will have done this in lesson time).
The Question
Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs meaning through the following:
In short, hegemony is dominant ideology & the dominance of values attitudes and beliefs of an elite social group.
It’s important to note that we’re not talking about absurd conspiracy theories like the Illuminati.
This is not some elite shadow government. Much more mundane, but no less important, we are typically talking about white, middle class, usually male values. It is this group who control the media and, as such, are in positions of cultural and social influence.
The question that hegemony poses is; ‘Who controls representations in the media and whose values, attitudes and beliefs do they reflect and whose do they marginalise?’
Here is a key article by Clare Pollard about hegemony and which uses some great examples from a movement called Legally Black, which challenges the dominant ideology by subverting texts that are dominated by white middle class male characters and their view of society.
This is a link to a very up to date report on how white privilege and dominance is still alive and kicking in America.
And of course this recent music video and song really do point the finger at how society thinks it is fair, diverse and equal but in reality – it just isn’t and how much of that is a result of the media?
Is the inevitable consequence of our postmodern distrust grand narratives: religion, politics, the rule of law, education; a world in which there is no truth? Are we doomed to increasingly acrimonious arguments over our personal truths, which are often simply uninformed opinion and those with the loudest voice (or more dominant media presence) getting to define the truth for the rest of us, which is the definition of hegemony?
So, What is The Truth in a Post Fact World?
The News and its Gatekeepers
In the past the news was controlled by TV & Newspaper editors who used ethical guidelines developed over time to define news values which were used to decide which stories to run and which stories got the most interest.
The values were defined in a work but Galtung and Ruge in 1965. They showed that stories about the homes of the news outlet took more importance than stories about other people and cultures. So hegemony is certainly not a new phenomena.
However newspapers and TV news are in decline. News is expensive to make and people don’t want to pay for it.
Reuters reported that 28% of 18-24 years olds use Facebook as their main source of news! Who edits the content we receive on Facebook?
Answer: nobody!
Well these days it is algorithms which are the news editors of the 21st Century. These bits of software are designed to predict what we like and promote those preferences based our search history & location on on our feeds.
This leads to…
Filter Bubbles & The Echo Chamber
Click Bait and the Amplification of Fake News
An algorithm can find it very difficult to distinguish fact from opinion. They can’t tell if the story they are promoting in our feeds is irrelevant or massively biased in favour of one groups opinions.
This means that fake news will appear next to genuine news stories that do follow the journalistic imperatives of balance and evidence. It then is down to the audience to use their critical faculties to distinguish the genuine stories from the fakes.
A Post Truth Post Modern World has frightening results like…
Former education secretary Michael Gove claiming, during the Brexit debate of 2016, that British people, ‘have had enough of experts’!
Trump claiming that. ‘He has kept more promises than he made!’
‘250,000 Syrian refugees had been placed on Native American Indian reservations.’ Was a claim made by satirical site ‘Real News Right Now’, and was picked up and repeated by Fox News and President Trump.
The truth is a hostage to the narratives of the elites. This is HEGEMONY!!!!
We want to submit your music promo package into one of the award categories.
To do this you must submit your final product as follows:
Create a new folder in the D Drive called, ‘The Name of Your Song, The name(s) of the film makers”. So for example:
“Media Madness. Mrs Cobb & Mr Gregson”
In this folder you should put:
A copy of the whole video.
A 30-40 second clip to be played as the videos are nominated.
4 x JPEG copies of the four panes of your digipack.
4 x JPEG screen grabs / snips of your website
Copy this whole folder into: P:\Golden Gregsons 2019\A2 Video, Digi & Web
THIS IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY TO DO THE VIDEO SEQUENCE:To do this, use the work space marker at the top of the sequence to select your chosen section. When you go to export, make sure you select ‘Work space’ as opposed to ‘Entire Sequence’
How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?
Task:
Video directors commentary on all three products with particular reference to star image & brand values.
You are working in your production group to prepare the video for this but you must contribute equally to the voice over and introduce yourself when speaking. You make some bullet point prompts together, but you must be able to verbalise and explain these concepts & how they apply yourself!
Preparing the video for the commentary.
Create a new Premiere project and import the .mp4 file you exported as your final draft for your music video.
Drop the video into ‘sequence one’ timeline, ‘Unlink’ the sound (A1) from the video (V1)
You will either delete the sound channel completely or…
…fade the music in and out over the commentary.
Record a commentary explaining the brand image you have communicated in your video, digipack and website.
The emphasis in this voiceover should be how the three products are…visually, thematically, aesthetically, generically, institutionally & ideologically linked into your BRAND or STAR IMAGE!
You must use media terminology to describe production techniques and you used and should also use some terms relevant theory / concepts that you have learnt during the course; e.g:
Theory of the Active Audience: preferred / negotiated / oppositional reading (Hall)
Drop in a jpeg of each pane of your digipack and screen grabs from your web site in place of, (or over) the existing footage.
This means you might have a full screen image or you might layer up the images over the video in V2. This is will be where you are discussing those the specific links between the products and what you were trying to achieve.
Guidance
Please answer the following questions in your voice-over:
How do the products reflect the star image & ideology of the artist?
Theorist – Dyer
Terms: Star image, Brand, Meta-narrative.
How are the products designed to create a coherent brand identity?
Theorist – Blumler & Katz
Terms: Social Interaction, Information, Personal Identity & Entertainment
Theorist – Hall
Terms: Active audience, preferred reading, ideology
How does design of the digipack and website fit with the video?
What are the institutional/business purposes behind the 3 products?
Theorist – Altman
Terms: Predictable pleasure, contract. Similar different. Marketing. Fans. Call to Action.
You may, of course, discuss other links and relationships; you should however try to show how there is a symbiotic (mutually beneficial) relationship between the three products and how this is achieved.
Whilst your DP and Advert will not be directly linked to the actual song in the music video, you must focus on the links between them regarding visual style, genre, star image, representation, ideology and brand packaging of the performer, which will be the same.
You will need to plan some bullet points for a script of this voiceover, but you must not read it out word for word! It feel like a well informed discussion between you and your partner/s. Plan the script first and then divide it up between the group – ensuring you have covered the main theorists and links to be discussed (see above). Once you have the script, you can think about the visuals that you need.
How do your products engage with the audience and how would they be distributed as real media products?
After you have completed your reading and research and compiled some good ideas about audience engagement and distribution, respond directly to the following questions in your vlog:
Part 1 – Target Audience
Who are your target audience?
What are their ideologies? (demographics, psychographics, audience segmentation eg tribe wired etc)
What is your brand identity / missions statement? (genre, star image)
How does the design / content of your three products fulfil your audience’s uses and gratification (Blumler and Katz but you don’t need to reference them directly – just use the terms)?
How do the products speak to the audience and try to create a relationship with them? (AIDA, B + K, genre, star image, Hall)
Dyer (star image – metanarrative, ordinary, paradox of the star, extraordinary, present, absent)
Blumler + Katz (personal identity, social interaction, information, entertainment)
Lacey (predictable pleasure, repertoire of elements, contract, blueprint, label, conventions)
Distribution and Marketing
Which record label would suit your star / brand?
What marketing strategies would you use to create buzz around your album launch?
How would you reach your target audience?
How are you likely to make your star / album profitable?
Theory / terminology:
target audience, budget, distribution, marketing, social media, download, streaming, guerilla marketing, personal appearances, live performance, festivals, press releases, advertising, online, viral marketing, profile, independent, major record label. Read the blog posts to get some ideas.
USE THE FOLLOWING CLIPS TO INTRODUCE YOUR VLOG and EDIT ON WEVIDEO
APPRENTICE INTRO AT THE START AND CUT TO YOUR VLOG.
In short, hegemony is dominant ideology & the dominance of values attitudes and beliefs of an elite social group.